Ron Amstutz Disses the Little People

Last month Ted Strickland announced a plan to add Keno games to the Ohio Lottery to help keep education fully funded in the face of a big budget shortfall.

Today State Senator Ron Amstutz announced he was going to introduce legislation to block the lottery commission’s plan.

Ron claims that he is trying to align himself “with the little people” and, by “little people”, I assume he is not speaking solely of Ohio’s munchkin community- but instead to the working class folks who are most likely to spend their money on Keno.

Either way, I don’t believe him. The GOP has never aligned itself with the working class (or munchkins) and it isn’t about to start now.

Worse than that- Ron’s comments are an insult to every working Ohioan.

In Ron’s screwed up world, the ‘allure of lottery gaming’ is just too strong for these ‘little people’- and it’s Ron’s job to protect them from themselves.

Instead of allowing them to spend their free time playing Keno, Ron wants to encourage “them to pursue developing their workforce skills and volunteering to improve their neighborhoods and communities.”

So not only are Ohio’s working class citizens ‘little’ and weak-willed, they also lack workforce skills and live in crappy neighborhoods that they are too lazy to improve?

Nice, Ron.

At least Ted is working on immediate solutions to the budget crisis. While Ron and the GOP-controlled legislature are twiddling their thumbs and talking and waiting.

If you don’t have any better ideas, Mr. Amstutz, then get the hell out of the way and stop trying to block the people who do.